Posts Tagged ‘Cars’

Go on. Admit it. If you saw Cars this weekend, you stepped out into the parking lot with a new interpretation on automotive transport. Seeing the late show on Friday night and strolling out to our lonely Honda Element stranded in the middle of the parking lot, I expected it to ask us "Where WERE you guys?" with incredulous impatience. Or at least a sly "That tickles!" when I put the key into the ignition.

Just like every other Pixar movie that came before it, I was completely enthralled by Cars. How they manage to make these otherwise inanimate objects into characters you care about is a feat in and of itself. But the fact that they stringently adhear to what their real-life counterparts are capible of doing so that the illusion of a photo-realistic world unfolds in front of you is an equally grand accomplishment.

Something of note from Friday’s comic – I was innundated with several e-mails from those of you who caught my scripting error when I had Tom say that if he could be any car, he’d be a ’57 Mustang Convertable. Anyone who doubts America’s love affair with the automobile need only look at my inbox for proof otherwise. Several of you wrote in that you don’t often pen letters to comic strip authors, but my error forced you to speak up. You see, there is no such thing as a ’57 Mustang convertable. Ford didn’t start manufacturing them until 1964.

Everyone that wrote in was very sympathetic. Their solution to my shoddy research falling into one of two camps. Either I meant to reference the 1967 Mustang convertable – the first year for such an offering. Or I meant to reference the 1957 Ford THUNDERBIRD convertable – which existed at the time.

Quite truthfully, I just pulled a date and the make of a car out of my ass. But I appreciated all the e-mails none the less!

Incidentally, if people weren’t writing about the car thing, they extended praise for Cami’s new haircut. You guys love it! I was really surprised, actually. Who thought it would cause this much uproar? But if you guys are willing to write in over a haircut, who am I to turn away a compliment? Thank you!

Saturday’s appearance at the Iowa I-Con comic book convention went great. I had prime real estate on the showroom floor. Basically, I was right in front of the entrance. When you walked in, I was the first one you saw.

Obviously no one knew who I was, but I think it was good from an awareness raising standpoint. I was handing out flyers and stickers left and right. Telling people about the comic and where to find us online. So if you saw me at the show this weekend and are coming here for the first time, WELCOME!

I-Con was a great dry run for Wizard World Chicago – which I will be attending August 4 – 6. I was able to look around at other booths and get ideas for things to do in Chicago. Typically how it works is that I show up in Chicago and realize "Crap! I don’t have any flyers to hand out!" So I slap something together really quick and run it down to Kinko’s. This year, I’m going to actually prepare in advance as opposed to TELLING myself to prepare and forgetting about it. As is becoming the tradition at WWC, I’ll probably be giving away commemorative 1" buttons to people who come and find me on Artist’s Alley. So make a note on your calendar to come visit me August 4 – 6!

My primary piece of merchandise will, of course, be copies of Theater Hopper – Year One – which my printer has promised to deliver by July 31. So that means those of you who ordered through the site will probably start seeing them in your mailboxes after I get back from Chicago – around the middle of August. Don’t worry. I set the pre-order copies aside so I don’t run out!

Some of you guys have written in and asked me "What’s up with the spelling in panel three?" Some of you are asking "Was it intentional?"

A short preface: If you read Joe’s blogs, LiveJournal entries or forum posts, he’s… a little lax with the spelling. Hey! I’m not one to judge. I’m a terrible speller, too! But when people read Wednesday’s comic, some people wondered if I was maybe having a little fun at his expense.

The answer is "Not intentionally."

I was pretty much trying to find something for Joe to say in the third panel that would rile Tom up enough to display his tattoo in a threatening manner. I actually bounced a few ideas off of Joe because I didn’t want to write his "voice" in an incincere manner. Eventually I just decided to copy one of his posts from the LiveJournal thread I was talking about earlier and let that speak for itself.

Of course, it was so late when I was putting the comic together, I didn’t notice any of the spelling errors at all! See what I mean when I say I’m not a great speller, either?

Anyway, more and more people started to notice and Joe himself saw what he had written. Ultimately, we decided it was funnier just to leave it in. Funnier for us at least.

I know the comic plays a little inside, but if you can amuse yourself from time to time, what’s the point?

I just didn’t want you to think that it was ME who was the terrible speller. Even though I’ve been guilty of that crime many times!

Today’s comic plays a little inside. Either your familiar with Joe Loves Crappy Movies and it’s creator Joe Dunn or you’re not. However, if you’re a fan of this site, I would think you would be educated in the ways of Dunn. He’s done a bajilliongueststripsforus, is a friend of the site and tackles movies over at his comic with great enthusiasm.

With that said, I don’t want people thinking this comic is the start of some kind of flame war between Joe and I. It actually sprung from a real-life conversation we had about Carson his LiveJournal. Everything Joe said in the third panel? That’s a direct quote.

Okay, okay. So Joe didn’t like Cars and I understand that. Do I think it’s as good as The Incredibles? No, of course not. Do I think it’s the worst movie they’ve ever done? No. Is it somewhere in the middle? Maybe. But then, when you’re talking Pixar, even a half-assed attempt has more craft and care in the first 5 minutes than other movies execute in two hours.

Joe and I have disagreed on movies before, so I don’t know what it is about Cars that I felt I had to defend it in a comic. Honestly, there’s not much to it. I was writing the comic backwards more than anything else. I came up with the Buzz Lightyear tattoo and needed to figure out a reason why Tom would roll up his sleeve to display it. My little conversation with Joe seemed like a good opportunity. And, frankly, I think the guy is really cool and I wanted to sent another shout out his way!

Not much more to say today. I’m writing this post kind of late and I’m drowsy. Now that the artwork for the books is at the printer, I’m kicking around ideas for a new site design. Does that grab you? Oh, well. I only have sketches at this point. I need to take some time this weekend and put together a first draft. It’ll be fun.

Today’s guest strip comes from Carl Kloster of The Third Half. The joke is a little bit on the border, but it was too good to pass out. I laughed out loud at this one. Plus, since I’m currently in Wizard World Chicago, having spent 6 hours in the car the day prior, it seemed fitting.

If you’re going to be at Wizard World Chicago, be sure to visit me at table #3134 A on Artist’s Alley. If you come by and say "Hi" I would be more than happy to give you an invitation to my book release party happening Saturday night. But you’re not going to know what room the party is being held in unless you get an invitation from me! No gate crashers!

If you’re not in Chicago this weekend, be sure to visit Carl’s site The Third Half. Lots of stuff to choose from there. Comics, movies, animation – he’s got it all.

Thanks again to Carl for the excellent guest strip on such short notice. Don’t forget to visit Theater Hopper over the weekend. I have two more guest strips for you that you’re going to love!

If you’ve never seen this illustration before, I’m happy to bring it to your attention. Because Jake’s illustration addresses something that fundamentally unsettles me about the Cars universe – how does a talking car… y’know… work?

Jake’s drawing is a mesh of organic and mechanical that actually makes a fair bit of sense. Although, when you go back and watch the movie and notice that all of the characters side and back windows are tinted, it makes things kind of creepy to think that their brains are behind that glass.

I know it’s a kids movie and I know you’re not supposed to ask these questions. But the level of detail that Pixar infused into these characters begs the question.

Incidentally, I’d also like to know how these characters built the buildings they inhabit with no opposable thumbs, but maybe that’s an issue for another day.